Eating Disorder

25 million individuals, in the United States, will indulge in overeating this year. That number may sound shocking, but if you take into account that individuals have been suffering from eating disorders since 700 (B.C.), it is not that alarming. That’s right; 700 (B.C.)! Ancient Romans would overindulge in lavish dinners, then leave, relieve themselves, by vomiting; and came back for more. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, depicted drawings of individuals purging to “remain healthy”. Whether it is over eating or under eating, 10% of individuals suffering from this disease are male and 7% of all women are currently suffering, as well. Since the average age of suffers plummets, to 11-13 years old, we must become aware of the causes and treatments.

CAUSE:

-Environmental: Each individual’s surrounding is very influential; in particular, the media. The media presents the viewing public with a standardized male and female look. Since it is everywhere, it nearly becomes etched in out brain. Individuals with a weak or little confidence, can be affected by this stereotype. It is commonplace, for this individual to begin to critique their own body against the media. Unfortunately, no matter how they look it is not good enough.

-Biological: Individual who suffer from a low serotonin level (i.e. depression or obsessive compulsive disorder) are susceptible to eating disorders.

-Developmental Etiology: The way an individual is raised can effect the personality, one develops.

-Trauma: Any event, in which, an individual witnesses or is part of a life threatening situation, can be the catalyst for an eating disorder.

TREATMENTS:

-Each individual has a different case, and they must be approached accordingly. Whether it is through support groups, one-on-one therapy, or clinical programs, the individual must receive immediate help. If you feel an individual or yourself may be suffering from an eating disorder, contact your local doctor immediately.

Mood Disorders

The brain is one of the most important and fragile organs of the entire body. However the brain is tangible, the mind is not. The mind is an abstract amalgamation, comprised of emotions, thoughts, values, and beliefs. Depending on an individual’s current mind mixture, their mood can vary from happy to sad. What if your mind demands an inappropriate mood for the moment? If this is the case, you are not alone. 44 million individuals experience mood disorders in the United States, alone.

The actual term mood disorders, is a blanket classification for several different disorders.

1. Depressive Disorders: This classification encompasses several types of depression disorders; Atypical Depression, Melancholic Depression, Psychotic Major Depression, Catatonic Depression, Postpartum Depression, Seasonal Depression, Dysthmyia Depression, Recurrent Brief Depression, and Minor Depressive Disorder. Each one of these disorders, effects the individual’s emotional state in chronic, varying degrees.

2. Bipolar Disorder: Formerly known as, manic depression, bipolar depression, combines episodes of severe depression and over excitement. An individual who experiences any stage of bipolar disorder will undergo immediate, spontaneous emotional changes. Witnessing someone in these circumstances, has been described, as an “emotional roller coaster ride”.

3. Substance-Induced Mood Disorders: An individual can experience substance-induced mood disorders, either under the influence or in withdrawal. The episodes are filled with anything from depression and paranoia, to manic an hypo-manic symptoms.

4. Alcohol-Induced Mood Disorders: Individuals who struggle with alcoholism, normally, experience severe depression. It is a viscous cycle. In order for an individual to feel better he/she drinks; then once he/she is satisfied depression hits. There is unfortunate no middle ground for this disorder.

5. Benzodiazepine-Induced Mood Disorders: This classification holds a close resemblance to the alcohol or substance induced mood disorders. Benzodiazepine is a medicine prescribed to individuals, suffering from insomnia or anxiety. The addiction to this medicine can off set an emotional typhoon of depression and manic behavior.

Insomnia

I did not sleep at all last night”. This comment is thrown around with a blind exaggeration. Anyway, it is not that irregular to experience the occasional sleepless night. However, if the individual at hand suffers from constant sleepless nights, he/she may have a sleep disorder. Sleep disorder is a physical or mental obstacle, which disrupts the normal pattern of sleep. The actual term sleep disorder is a blanket term, which covers several different types disorders.

1. Primary insomnia: This disorder, is one of the most common sleep disorder. An individual experiencing this, will have a chronic issue falling asleep or maintaining asleep.

2. Bruxism: This particular sleep disorder, involuntarily forces individuals to grind their teeth while sleeping.

3. Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS): An individual with DSPS, will have no issues with maintaining sleep, but will fall asleep at socially unacceptable times of day.

4. Hypopnea Syndrome: This sleep disorder must be carefully monitored. The main symptom of Hypopnea is extremely shallow or slow respiratory rate.

5. Narcolepsy: The sleep disorder of Narcolepsy, forces individuals to fall asleep spontaneous unwillingness.

6. Cataplexy: The sleep disorder of Cataplexy, does not actually occur within the boundary of sleep; it is the spontaneous relaxation of muscles; forcing the individual to collapse.

7. Night Terror: Try and recall the time you abruptly woke up from a nightmare. Now, take that time, and multiply it by ten. Individuals with Night Terror will abruptly arise from their slumber, with a sudden rush of terror.

8. Sleep Paralysis: Sleep Paralysis is a brief moment of paralyzing symptoms before or after sleep. This sleep disorder is mainly accompanied with visual or auditory hallucinations.

9. Sleepwalking: While an individual is sleepwalking, he/she will engage in activities, normally reserved for wakefulness (e.g. walking or getting dressed).

10. Somniphobia: The fear of sleeping.

Speech Disorders

Each night on ESPN’s Sportscenter; the NBA (National Basketball Association) games are broken down by Bill Walton. Walton was a three time NCAA Player of the Year, one of the 50 greatest basketball players, a commentator of over 100 NBA games a year, and up until 28 he suffered from one of the worst speech impediments. 7.5 million individuals are currently suffering from speech disorders, in the United States, alone. However, speech disorders is a blanket term which covers a wide spectrum of disorders.

1. Stuttering: This is most common of all speech disorders. The actual action of stuttering is back up of sounds within the mouth, during the attempted production.

2. Cluttering: Clustering is the mash up of several different words at one time. When an individual tries to talk, their mouth can not catch up to their thoughts; so a collection of sounds is expressed.

3. Dysprosody: Out of all the speech disorders; this is the rarest. The fundamental frequency and cadence, of the individual’s voice change rapidly through a normal conversation.

4. Speech & Sound Disorders: Within this specific speech disorder, an individual has a difficulty enunciating, articulating, or even producing certain sounds.

5. Voice Disorders: The actual physical disorder of the organs which produce speech.

6. Dysarthria: This disorder is a weakness in the muscles that produce speech. This disorder is usually the symptom of a stroke or Parkinson’s Disease.

7. Apraxia of Speech: An individual will lose the function of placing the correct sounds, in the correct places.

CLASSIFICATIONS:

1. Sounds That Patients Can Produce: Individuals can produce phonemic (easily produced sounds) and phonetic (produced only upon request

2. Stimulable Sounds: Either an individual can produce sounds voluntarily or after a stimulation.

3. Cannot Produce The Sound: Individuals can not audibly produce sounds voluntarily.

Bi Polar Disorder

What does an individual, who suffers from bi polar disorder, look like?”. Well in order to depict a clear picture, think of these people; Kurt Vonnegut (acclaimed author), Ozzy Osbourne (top selling musician), Mel Gibson (acclaimed actor), and Russel Brand (U.K.’s top stand up comedian). Each one of these highly regarded individuals is dealing, or has dealt with bi-polar disorder. This established picture, should erase any stereotypes; and mainly prove that any individual can be suffering. It is important to become aware of the symptoms, because bi-polar disorder can be very well hidden.

1. Depressive Episode: An individual who experiencing depressive episodes, will suffer from persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, guilt, isolation, or hopelessness. These chronic symptoms will effect an individuals appetites, sleep, or activities. The main victim of an individual’s emotion is the personalization factors (e.g. social anxiety, irritability, loss of sexual interest).

2. Manic Episode: Manic episodes are different from depressive episodes, in the way that they are quick bursts of elevated emotion; as opposed to a chronic symptoms. Individuals who are experiencing these episodes

3. Hypomanic Episode: If an individual is presenting false happiness, it could be a symptom of hyomanic episodes. These episodes are filled with constant mood swings (extreme highs and extreme lows). Although the episodes may feel good to the individual who is experiencing, the crash is completely debilitating.

4. Mixed Affective Episode: The mixed affective episode is an a amalgamation of several different symptoms occurring at one time.

5. Associated Features: There are two main features that are extremely pronounced in any individual experiencing this disorder. First, an individual will rarely show any signs during a neuro-psychological test. The last, and most interesting, is most individual’s with this disorder wind up getting involved in the arts of some kind.

Gender Identity Disorder

Psychology has been riddled with controversial debates, for year; some of which have been solved, others which remain in a psychological purgatory. Are children active contributors or passive recipients of their own development? Is life filled with a series of abrupt changes or a gradual development? Is nature or nurture the main cause for a individual’s personal and mental development? All these questions have established an inter-psychological debate, but no question has received the external contribution, such as, is gender identity disorder an actual psychological disorder? Is it the negative stigma the word disorder conveys, or is it the actual idea that the physical is battling the mental? Either way, the mental state lies within several different “symptoms”.

1. A strong disinterest and discomfort with the sexuality one was born into.

2. A strong interest and comfort in the idea of the other gender.

3. A significant uncomfortable nature within a social or occupational areas of functioning.

4. As commonly believed, it is not gender identity disorder, if the individual is interested in both genders.

Several individuals who wish to change their gender, are given an intricate psychological test, along with several sessions in therapy. This practice is used, in order, to properly make sure that the individual is ready to handle the emotional and mental strain, that will come with the surgery. On the other hand, not every individual requests a surgery, some are just interested in establishing a deep understanding of the opposite gender, without any psychical changes. In this case, there is no mandatory psychological tests or sessions. Although there is no specific treatment or cause of the “disorder”, it is important to at least speak with a mental health professional, if you or a loved one is experiencing these symptoms.

Stress Disorders

The Pentagon is now flying large numbers of uniformed therapists and mental health workers into war areas to counsel troops.

The shooting at Fort Hood has affected much beyond the families of those killed and hurt.  The suspected killer, Nidal Hasan was part of a plan to offer treatment to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, reaching soldiers and other members of the army that required psychological counseling.  In these war zones, counselors are often not available.  The Pentagon’s efforts have changed after Hasan reportedly killed 13 people and wounded another 31.

At least three of the victims killed were fellow mental health specialists that were to be sent to Afghanistan.  Another six who were wounded are in the 1493rd Combat Stress Control team to which Hasan was assigned.  Commanders have been struggling with the decision to either proceed with or cancel deployment of the team after the shootings occurred.

It is estimated that one in three soldier are unable to reach a counselor when they need one, this according to an Army survey conducted last year.  As troops are spread out in more than 350 locations across Afghanistan, it is a tall order to send therapists to reach psychologically damaged troops.  The military, in effort to reach all troops in need, have begun to send record numbers of therapists to Afghanistan.

Currently, 45 mental health workers are deployed in Afghanistan.  Another 45 therapists were to join 25 behavioral health specialists in southern Afghanistan.

The push by President Barack Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan, following the demand for more mental health providers, caused Hasan to be sent into combat.  Hasan did not want to go, but had served for 12 years with no deployments.  The assignment was likely very stressful for him, as he had no combat experience and had never been overseas.

Mental health professionals are subject to numerous risks when deployed in Afghanistan, from flying over dangerous terrain to driving on roads filled with bombs.  They are in constant risk to be stranded at a base for long periods of time, and being victim of rockets shot at outposts.

The therapists do important work, however.  Soldiers that struggle with stress disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder or typical mental health issues such as grief and nightmares.  They do what they can to help soldier be comfortable with the help that they are offering, from bringing a dog to pet to smoking cigars with the soldiers.

The aftermath of Fort Hood has undoubtedly had its impact on the deployments.  Investigators are currently trying to determine whether Hasan should have been receiving counseling, instead of administering it.

Will Lee
Counselor Network Writer

Dissociative Disorders

To the vast majority of the world, reality is just that — reality.  We understand and comprehend the most of everything in the world as it actually is.  Understanding reality is something we take for granted, as there are a number of people in the world unable to grasp reality.  In fact, they often involuntarily escape reality in an unhealthy way.  These people have what is called a dissociative disorder.

Dissociative disorders are typically defined as a condition that disrupts or breaks down memory, awareness, identity and perception.  When one or more of these functions are disrupted, it is said that symptoms of dissociative disorders are more likely to show.

As the name suggests, dissociative disorders are cause a dissociation from reality.  Additionally, dissociative disorders may interrupt the aspects of reality that are natural for a healthy person (such as one’s own identity).  They are usually associated with a harsh trauma experienced by the individual, possibly leading to a mental defensive mechanism that separates the individual from the troubling reality caused by the trauma.  Dissociative disorder is referred to as an involuntary coping mechanism, causing the individual to literally dissociate himself from the reality that his or her conscious self can not deal with alone.

There are a few dissociative disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Volume 4.  The rest of this article will focus on identifying and describing these disorders:

1.  Dissociative amnesia: this form of dissociative disorder blocks out critical personal information, usually related to a trauma or stressful event.  Unlike other types of amnesia, dissociative amnesia is not a result from another physical trauma, but instead stems from the mind.  The inability to recall certain bits of information is often a result of emotional trauma.

2.  Dissociative identity disorder: this form of dissociative disorder is the most infamous of the 4 listed in the DSM.  In what was once known as Multiple Personality Disorder, the individual displays a detachment from reality in the form of alternating distinct personalities and a noticeable inability to recall certain information.  Memories may be associated with a particular alternate personality, making for a convincing separation of each personality.

3.  Dissociative fugue: the rarest form of dissociative disorder, dissociative fugue is characterized by an individual’s sudden physical leave of his usual surroundings for a journey of some sort.  At times, individuals suffering from dissociative fugue may disappear for up to months at a time.  They often also display an inability to recall, leading to many cases of confusion of personality identity.  They may not remember who they are during this journey and in very rare cases may create or assume another identity.

4.  Depersonalization disorder: individuals suffering from depersonalization disorder may experience detachment from reality, but realize and understand that it is not in fact a reality — it is only a feeling.  Out of all of these disorders, depersonalization disorder is the most easily identified.  It can be described as a feeling of a dream, or daydreaming.  While this may happen to the average person, a person suffering from depersonalization disorder may experience these feelings of distorted reality multiple times a day.

Tim Du
Counselor Network Writer

Personality Disorders

A human being’s ability to behave in a manner fitting to the norms of society is usually expected.  Unfortunately, for people personality disorders, fitting into society is a substantial challenge.

A personality disorder is defined as severe disturbance in the typical behavioral tendencies in an individual, and usually involves more than one area of the personality.  Personality disorders are almost always associated with substantial amounts of personal and social disruption, causing the individuals to struggle in their daily personal and social lives.

Personality disorders usually appear and are diagnosed in late adolescence and often manifest going into adulthood.  This fact leads to diagnoses usually appearing after the late teenage years, as the disorders may not form until the individual reaches mental maturity.  Personality disorders usually produce ego-syntonic behavior, or consistent with the ego integrity of the individual, and, therefore, are usually considered appropriate by the individual.  This may cause the negative behavioral patterns to be inflexible and tough to change.

There are 3 types of disorders that affect the personality, and a diagnosis of these personality disorders usually require certain criteria.  For one, behavior must clearly deviate from the expectations of the surrounding culture.  Secondly, the pattern of behavior must be inflexible across a broad range of situations and cause significant distress in social or occupational functioning.  Thirdly, the pattern of negative behavior must have been of long duration and traced back to at least adolescence or early adulthood.  Lastly, the negative behavior must not be a manifestation of another mental disorder or due to the direct effects of a substance or medical condition.

The rest of this article focuses on the 3 cluster types of personality disorders:

1.  Cluster A – odd or eccentric disorders

- Paranoid disorder: this disorder is characterized the irrational suspicion of others
- Schizoid disorder: shows a lack of interest in social events and relationships, avoids time with others
- Schizotypal disorder: shows odd behavior of unnatural thinking

2.  Cluster B – dramatic, emotional or erratic disorders

- Antisocial disorder: does not care about the law or the rights of others
- Borderline disorder: thinking is extreme on either end, lack of stability in relationships, identity, and behavior patterns.
- Histrionic disorder: attention-seeking behavior that includes sexual seductiveness and emotions inappropriate in typical society.
- Narcissistic disorder: pervasive patterns of grandiosity, need for attention, and a lack of empathy for others.

3. Cluster C – anxious or fearful disorders

- Avoidant disorder: lack of social drive, low self-esteem, extremely sensitive to criticism.
- Dependent disorder: pervasive psychological dependence on other individuals
- Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: shows a strict conformity to rules, moral codes and order.

Also unofficially included in the list of personality disorders are 2 disorders in Appendix B:

- Passive-aggressive personality disorder: shows patterns of negative attitudes and passive resistance to others.
- Depressive disorder: shows depressive cognitions and behaviors

Deleted from the official list of personality disorders are:

- Sadistic disorder: shows patterns of cruelty and aggressive behavior
- Self-defeating disorder (masochistic personality disorder): shows behavior that goes against the person’s own goals and pleasure.

Tim Du
Counselor Network Writer